We all experience stress and anxiety in our day-to-day lives. Acupressure provides a simple, yet effective way to relieve the pressures that keep us from being the best version of ourselves.
What is Acupressure?
Acupressure stems from traditional Chinese medicine that focuses on applying force to particular pressure points on your body. Massaging these pressure points relieves stress and improves your overall health.
Unlike acupuncture, which applies needles into pressure points to initiate a bodily response, acupressure is all about using your own two hands to massage an acupoint. According to the Acupuncture and Massage College, acupoints are kind of like pit stops for the energy in your body that connects your internal organs together.
Massaging your acupoints, or applying acupressure to these areas, can alleviate muscle tension and encourages blood flow.
The Benefits of Acupressure
At first glance, you may not know how truly beneficial acupressure can be in your everyday life. Below are just a few benefits of acupressure.
Improved Sleep
In a recent clinical trial, acupressure was tested among breast cancer survivors as a means to improve their sleep quality. Among the 288 survivors, over 60% of them experienced better sleep.
For those of us who suffer from insomnia, acupressure is here to help. Another study revealed that acupressure can help reduce insomnia. All 25 participants in the study experienced better sleep and improved sleep quality two weeks following the five-week trial period. This article provides 5 Pressure Points for Sleep.
Reduced Body Pain
If you’re like most people, you’ve experienced some sort of back pain. It is proven that self-administered acupressure techniques can reduce chronic lower back pain and these techniques are the best place to start.
Anxiety Relief
Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the United States, plaguing around 40 million adults each year. By using these 6 acupoints you can begin to find relief from symptoms due to anxiety.
Has acupressure worked to help remedy any of your ailments? We’d love to hear about it. Tag us on Instagram.
